The Pioneer Valley group has been meeting in Northampton, MA, since May 2009. Its members come from several cities and towns, including Springfield to the south, Amherst to the east, Greenfield to the north, and many towns in between. It is currently working on outreach to other groups, including interfaith, and advocating on behalf of two current Guantánamo detainees.

We supported a resolution in Amherst to welcome the men to our community, which passed Amherst Town Meeting on November 4, 2009, and a second resolution that passed Leverett Town Meeting on April 24, 2010. We held a public forum in Northampton on November 19; watch the video. We have also written letters and signed greeting cards to Ahmed and Ravil.

Our Mission

Pioneer Valley No More Guantanamos is a local coalition that has come together as part of a national effort to reverse U.S. policies and practices that have denied hundreds of detainees their rights and freedom and that have made the U.S. and the world less safe. Our goals are to:

Assure that prisoners whom the United States continues to detain without trial are either charged and prosecuted for federal crimes, in accordance with the U.S. Constitution and international law, or released

Shift public perceptions of Guantánamo prisoners from faceless, nameless “terrorists” to human beings who deserve human rights and a presumption of innocence until proven guilty

Use prisoners’ stories to overcome unfounded fears within our community about these prisoners

Enable prisoners cleared for release but who can't return home to settle in the U.S. or help them get where they want to go

A former footballer, Ahmed Belbacha was born in Algiers in 1969. He left his homeland in 1999, after receiving death threats from militants because he worked for a government-run oil company, and sought asylum in the UK.

A judge ordered Ravil's release on May 13, 2010, under the writ of habeas corpus

Ravil Mingazov was born in Russia in 1967. He became a ballet dancer with several dance troupes. Conscripted into the Russian Army at the age of 19, he first served in the Army ballet troupe. After his conscription ended in 1988, he served voluntarily until 1996 and later returned to the military in the food supply section, where he took over a program that was in bad shape and transformed it into a model program, “the best in all the Army's.” In recognition of his achievement, he said that the General gave him a watch.